Internal Bleeding have been slugging it out since 1991 and while they have fallen victim to every possible hardship along the way (lawsuits, revolving members, folding labels, album delays), they are finally back with their first album of new material in five years. ONWARD TO MECCA was supposed to be released in the fall of 2001 under the title HATEFUEL, but the acquisition of Olympic Recordings by Century Media caused heaps of red tape and the recording was put on hold. In the meantime, vocalist Jerry Lowe and guitarists Matt Ferrara and Frank Buffalino formed a hardcore group called Punchyourface and that influence is felt in spades on ONWARD TO MECCA. The NYC hardcore sound is prevalent but Infernal Bleeding also mixes in plenty of death metal riffs and pounding drums. This is NOT Hatebreed; the chugging riffs are there but these guys are more in the vein of Suffocation and the music is heavy, dark and angry. Lowe’s vocals are an excellent mix of hardcore roars and death growls that are perfectly suited for the music. The downfall of this CD is the lack of variety. One track essentially is the same as the next without wavering. That is not uncommon with this type of music and the band can’t really be faulted for it, but it is still a problem. Overall, this is solid deathcore that will excite both camps and get things moving in the moshpits.

“Bleed by Example” kicks things off and is a real heavy hitter. Lowe’s roars and growls really throw this track into high gear. The best track of the bunch is “Hatefuel,” which features some excellent squealing riffs and a cool breakdown. Andrew Hogan’s bass intro to “This Day I Fight” is short but sweet, while the trippy outro is a bit of a surprise for a record of this type. The only original member of Internal Bleeding is drummer Bill Tolley and not only has he held the band together for 14 years, but he also takes charge of many of the tracks with his mighty pounding drums and occasional blastbeat. Ferrara and Buffalino really make their presence known, as well, as the riffs fly fast and furious and they seem to battle it out every chance they get.

At a mere 37 minutes, ONWARD TO MECCA follows the typically short hardcore archetype but it really is just the right length. This is relentless and uncompromising music and anymore would start to give you a headache. After five long years, Internal Bleeding has delivered a solid CD that will surely please their fans, but death metallers and the hardcore crowd would be wise to pay attention as well.

Year-end wrap-up: Each of the last few years to wrap up the year I have picked a theme for my reviews for December. This year due to the overwhelming number of CD’s that deserve exposure, recognition and commentary I am going to resort to quantity over quality. I usually try to give as much attention to each CD with extensive commentary however this month’s reviews (perhaps unfortunately) will be short and sweet and much more in the style of traditional magazine reviews where space restrictions are an important factor. (ie. Less detail) I apologize in advance to readers who expect much more detailed reviews. Please check the reviews archives as many of my colleagues have written excellent detailed commentary of many of these CD’s. I hope the large number of quick comments will help guide you making some of those important year-end CD purchase decisions. Happy Holidays and see you in January. JP

It’s hard to maintain the integrity and sound of a band when you only have one original member and in Internal Bleeding s case ‘just’ the drummer has survived. This band has morphed from a cool, underground death metal band into something different and not all that great. The low end is gone, the brutality has been dropped, the vocals aren’t as good there are too many modern metalcore type influences. And to top it al off the band is getting all-political lyrically. It’s no surprise they all have short hair and baggy jeans now. Politics is for punk rock not metal. Whatever happened to the old-school gore soaked death metal? Unless they dramatically reverse their slide next CD, they have lost my support.

This long running death metal institution has been crushing skulls since its formation in 1991. The band has since had its ups and downs, but have been out of public consciousness for a while for a number of reasons (mostly label issues), with this album originally scheduled for release back in 2001. Needless to say, these guys have been chomping at the bit to get this thing out and reintroduce the world to Internal Bleeding.

For me, this is my first contact with the band and after a bunch of listens through ONWARD TO MECCA, I have to say that I’m somewhat unimpressed. Given the hype, and the pedigree behind this band, I was expecting something that was, if not groundbreaking, then at least innovative and exciting. What I got instead was a slab of serviceable, standard death metal that could come from just about any band out there on the America circuit (no Euro-death melodies here). The band has managed to mesh some of their more hardcore-ish tendencies into the death assault to nice effect. In fact, it’s not immediately obvious when they do it because it is so woven into the traditional death sound that it’s almost hidden, but suddenly jumps out at you and knocks you over.

Despite that, this is still just run of the mill death metal that can be heard on hundreds of different albums. It’s good, but not outstanding. If you are one of those for whom death metal makes up 95% of your metal listening, then you need to add this to your collection. Everyone else should do the old try before buy.